In Lieu of Membership
by yoru no ame
Summary: Kazahaya works at a crappy little diner out in the middle of nowhere. The most exciting part of his day? Actual customers.


A group of motorcycles roared past the shack of a diner where Kazahaya worked. The restaurant sat out in the middle of nowhere along Route 42. Its owner had strange ideas about his business and Kazahaya had to wonder if he wasn't strange as well for working there.

As the noise died down, he was able to hear a pair of men walking in. One of them looked to be about his own age, but the guy had a moody air about him that Kazahaya wasn't sure he quite liked. Being a good employee though, he wasted no time in going to take their drink orders after they'd chosen a table. The boy his age eyed him but didn't say anything. Kazahaya decided rather quickly that he liked the moody one better than the older one. He just wasn't comfortable with a customer calling him "pretty boy."

It was nearly a half hour later and the two men were finishing their meals. Kazahaya expected them to be out of his hair any minute. Usually, he was grateful for customers but in this case, because of that one man, he looked forward to the moment when he would be back to an empty dining room.

The older man waved to him then, but instead of calling for his bill said, "Hey there pretty boy, why don't you tell your boss man that he has a VIP club member out here who is expecting his free dessert."

"We don't have a program like that."

"Oh? Why don't you go ask him just to be sure."

A sudden voice from behind the counter saved Kazahaya the trouble of interrupting his boss. "Go easy on the boy, Saiga. He hasn't been corrupted like the rest of us," he paused, looking at the boy sitting across from Mr. VIP, "yet."

This Saiga fellow laughed at that, then stood and without another word led Kakei into the back of the restaurant like a dog on an invisible leash.

Kazahaya stood behind the counter and watched the moody boy. Sure, it was a bit impolite, but he had nothing else to do. There were precious few customers each day and you can only wipe down a clean counter top or sweep a clean floor so many times. How Kakei could afford to keep the place running considering the lack of patrons was a mystery.

Kazahaya's only remaining customer was an attractive guy. On a purely objective level, of course. Girls probably even categorized him as "hot." His facial features were nice enough when he didn't look like he was brooding – maybe he'd just been really hungry. On top of that, he was tall and broad shouldered. He looked pretty strong actually. It would be useful to have a guy like that around. Someone to lift the heavy containers of cooking oil and look tough when troublemakers stopped in. Just someone to talk to would be nice and—

"If you're wondering what they're up to…" The guy's voice startled him.

It took a second to understand what he was talking about – Kakei and that guy, Saiga. "I wasn't."

He went on as if Kazahaya hadn't even spoken. "I could probably show you a fair approximation." The guy was grinning broadly, but it wasn't a typical, happy smile. There was a word for that look. And his tone… Somehow, it was appalling. No one had ever spoken to Kazahaya that way in his life.

What did a person say to something like that? "I think I'd rather you didn't."

"In that case, I'll settle for a piece of the double layered chocolate cake." It was as Kazahaya fulfilled his customer's request, the gears in his mind slowly digesting those few little bits of conversation – working out the implications – that he decided he would just have to make due disliking both men.

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Author's Notes: This fic started as a part of a fic writing meme. Authors were supposed to pull up their music player, set the songs to random, and write one drabble/ficlet per song. When the song ended, time's up, pencils down, your fic was finished. I did a whole bunch of them but they were not presentable (to put it nicely). I cheated and spruced this one up a great deal. For those interested, the original song was "Knights of Cydonia" by Muse.


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